Judie’s Gear Diary – 2006-09-20

Unlike yesterday’s aborted journey, today my trip to Phuket started without a hitch. I flew to Dallas, and as I ate lunch in an airport restaurant, I caught up on the email and text messages I’d missed during the previous hour’s flight.

As I read, a message from Julie caught my eye, “Hey I just heard that a state of emergency was declared in Thailand!”

My reply was, “Shut up! ;0) Not Funny!”, because I figured that Julie was being her typical mischevious self – messing with me after the disappointment of yesterday’s cancelled flight that had temporarily put my journey on hold. Little did I know…

As I waited for my flight to Frankfurt to be called, I nervously watched as the reporters on CNN described the latest developments of a coup against the Thai Prime Minister while he was out of the country. Reading emails from other Mobius attendees and the text messages from Julie and Steve, it was evident that the surprise turn of events was a massive worry for those that were in transit like me, as well as those who were about to be.

Some of the Mobians were saying that things should be fine in Phuket, and that Bangkok – where martial law and a State of Emergency had been declared – was far enough away that it should not affect our gathering. Other attendees were saying that they had already cancelled their flights, and that they wouldn’t take the chance of making the trip for fear that the situation might escalate. Still others that were actually at the resort said that so far everything was “business as usual”.

I’ve never traveled to a country that was in the middle of a coup (peaceful or otherwise), and I would be lying if I didn’t say that for a little while I contemplated arranging a return flight home, but I also didn’t want to take the chance of missing an awesome trip if the day’s events quickly resolved.

After much consideration (and quite a few fast & furious text messages with Steve), I decided that since I still had a 9.5 hour flight to Frankfurt, as well as a seven hour layover upon arrival – and therefore plenty of time to decide whether or not to continue – I would go ahead and make the next leg of my journey.

As I type this entry, I have just arrived in Frankfurt. It looks like things are peaceful, and I will be traveling on to Phuket as planned. I wish all coups could be as calm!